Rockets forward Donatas Motiejunas, third from left, of Lithuania, is fouled as he goes up for a shot by Nuggets guard Aaron Brooks, second from left, and center Timoey Mozgov, of Russia, left, as guard Randy Foye, right, looks on. less

Rockets forward Donatas Motiejunas, third from left, of Lithuania, is fouled as he goes up for a shot by Nuggets guard Aaron Brooks, second from left, and center Timoey Mozgov, of Russia, left, as guard Randy ... more

Photo: David Zalubowski / Associated Press

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Rockets center Omer Asik, third from left, of Turkey, loses control of the ball under the basket as, from left, Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried, guard Aaron Brooks and forward Quincy Miller cover.

Rockets center Omer Asik, third from left, of Turkey, loses control of the ball under the basket as, from left, Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried, guard Aaron Brooks and forward Quincy Miller cover.

Joe Johnson of the Nets shoots over Chandler Parsons and James Harden of the Rockets.

Joe Johnson of the Nets shoots over Chandler Parsons and James Harden of the Rockets.

Photo: John Minchillo / Associated Press

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Rockets point guard Jeremy Lin defends a shot by Shaun Livingston of the Nets.

Rockets point guard Jeremy Lin defends a shot by Shaun Livingston of the Nets.

Photo: John Minchillo / Associated Press

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Rockets coach Kevin McHale signals to his players as they play the Nets.

Rockets coach Kevin McHale signals to his players as they play the Nets.

Photo: John Minchillo / Associated Press

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Joe Johnson of the Nets shoots over Isaiah Canaan of the Rockets.

Joe Johnson of the Nets shoots over Isaiah Canaan of the Rockets.

Photo: John Minchillo / Associated Press

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Jay Z and Beyonce take in the Nets and Rockets action at the Barclays Center.

Jay Z and Beyonce take in the Nets and Rockets action at the Barclays Center.

Photo: John Minchillo / Associated Press

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Rockets run wild in rout of Lakers

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LOS ANGELES – The Lakers celebrated Steve Nash’s career, about all that was left to celebrate in their long, lost season.

The Rockets just celebrated.

Nash moved to third in NBA history for career assists. The Rockets spent nearly every minute that followed pouring it on, scoring more points than any team has in the NBA this season – and more than any team has in four quarters in the past four seasons – cruising through the fourth quarter to a 145-130 blowout.

The Rockets easily surpassed the 134 points they scored in their other trip to Staples Center to play the Lakers, relentlessly driving through the injury-depleted Lakers frontcourt to score a season-high 80 points in the paint, 14 more than they had in any game.

“Yeah, we had it going,” said James Harden, who had 33 points and 12 assists in 32 minutes before sitting out the entire fourth quarter. “We still gave up too many points, more than we wanted to, but offensively, we kind of got it going and made up for our lack of defense.”

Terrence Jones started the assault on the rim in the opening minutes and finished with 33 points in 33 minutes. He left the game with a cramp in his left calf, though he quickly returned to the bench and was available to return to the game.

“It wasn’t an injury,” Jones said. “It was just a muscle cramp real fast. I worked it out in the back before the fourth quarter even started.”

Jones sat out the fourth quarter three points shy of his career high of 36, but the ease with which he scored was about more than just the Lakers’ complete lack of rim protection. In the three games since returning from the flu, he has averaged 22 points per game, making 56.5 percent of his shots.

“I’m just trying to be aggressive when we have guys out,” Jones said. “With Dwight (Howard) out, I want to be the other big that’s going to be aggressive and make sure I can help pick up that slack. I just wanted to be aggressive and get fouled. That’s how this team plays – layups and 3s. If I’m not shooting a 3, I’m going to get all the way to the basket.”

With Harden and Jones through early, it left the career-high portion of the evening to Isaiah Canaan who matched the 15 points he scored against the Nuggets on Sunday, and Donatas Motiejunas, who had eight fourth-quarter rebounds to finish with a career-best 15.

Of greater importance, with the win, the Rockets would lock up homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs with any combination of two wins or Trail Blazers losses.

With the loss, the Lakers’ 53rd, the Lakers have more losses than in any season since moving to Los Angeles in 1960.

That reduced the Rockets’ games against the Lakers in Los Angeles to being about side shows besides the games themselves.

In February, it was about Dwight Howard’s first game in Staples Center to play the Lakers since leaving them and how much derision fans could toss at him. On Tuesday, the first half at least was about Nash’s move up a rung in the record books.

“It would be summarized just as a great career,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said. “I was lucky enough to coach him a couple of times, especially the one in Phoenix where he was just phenomenal for a lot of years. It’s too bad that everything comes to an end and he has had a great career, so he got that tonight.”

Nash took care of the top line on the Lakers’ to-do list for the evening, getting five assists in 13 first-half minutes to pass Mark Jackson and move to third, behind John Stockton and Jason Kidd on the all-time list.

Nash had already told D’Antoni that his “hamstring was on fire” and D’Antoni said that Nash went for the record ‘literally playing on one leg.” Nash left the game minutes later to a standing ovation and hugs on the bench. He did did not return. His contribution was already made.

“It’s incredible to be sharing that part of the assist ladder with some players I really looked up to and tried to emulate,” Nash said. “It’s a fantastic feeling to be in that rare air.”

With that, Nash said he was likely through for the season and the Lakers had done what they came to do. The Rockets took care of their business as soon as the second half began.

The blowout began when the Rockets started hitting 3-pointers, with Harden, Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and Jones combining to knock down four straight. The Rockets continued to pour it on until a game after scoring a season-high 47 points in the third quarter, they put up 49, making 18 of 24 shots and taking the lead to 28.

“Obviously, they’re not at full strength,” said Parsons, who had 19 points and eight assists. “They didn’t have many shot-blockers in there so we definitely wanted to attack the rim and just keep moving the ball, space the floor and play unselfish. We were getting easy shots and we just continued to do that in the third quarter. We just got hot and kept making the simple plays and guys just stepped up and made shots.